Inheritance
by nimbusssss
Summary: A slow-burn thriller that primarily unravels the character of Mikasa, who upon waking up in the midst of an awful snowstorm, notices that everything seems out of the ordinary. Begins in the final year of the 104th basic training. (WIP, definitely a fresh idea that is still being developed. Reviews are VERY much appreciated!)
1. Chapter 1: Awakening

Mikasa's eyes jolted open for no reason. She was in a cold sweat, following a dreamless sleep. Her heart was beating a tinge faster than it should be, yet she felt no rush. Only dazed. The full moon was now illuminating the dorm enough for it to be a nuisance.

'_I just want to go back to sleep. The harder I try, the more I regain lucidity.'_

She let out a long but resigned sigh.

'_Everyone else is asleep. Or pretending to be.'_

She stared out the window, watching the trees blow in the cold wind. The moon appeared to be faintly lowering; maybe her boredom was only seeing what it wanted to see. Surely it was close to morning routines, however, as there was a faint hue of orange in the sky. The sun was rising.

'_That can't be right, though. We should've been woken up as soon as the sun became visible from the watchtowers. We're far below that altitude, and the sun is just now visible. What?'_

Normally, she would pass this off as a mistake made by her superiors, but her anxiety was worse for some reason. Her heartbeat was now awfully audible.

'_Since when would the superiors be this incompetent? Could something have happened while I was asleep? While __**everyone**_ _was asleep?'_

A hushed whisper, making her tense up, "Mikasa, aren't we all supposed to be up?" It was Krista, on the bed across from her. She didn't realize she was awake too.

Mikasa noticed a small bit of confusion in Krista's face, which almost made her deflect it with a glance of worry. She was giving into confirmation bias now. Something isn't adding up. "No. Nobody has come to wake us up yet. Just wait."

"Oh. I can't sleep." Despite being spoken in a whisper, somehow what she said carried a level of monotony in it. It was almost uncharacteristic of her. Maybe she felt distressed too.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Annie in the bunk above Krista making uncomfortable movements. Her eyes were half open.

'_It's like everyone's internal clocks are waking them up. They're used to being up at this time. We definitely should've been awoken by now.'_

Without saying a word, Annie silently climbed down from the bunk. She was in nothing but training shorts and her hoodie, and her bare feet made unnoticeable noise. Mikasa and Krista were eyeing her intently, to see what she was doing. Slowly, she made her way to the door and was inches away from putting her hand on the knob.

"Annie, wait!" pleaded Krista in a whisper, a little louder than she intended. The wind escaped her teeth in a way that pierced the silence. Annie put her hand on the knob anyway, but turned her attention to Krista. Krista took the hint and quickly continued, "Don't go out. Just because they haven't woken us up yet doesn't mean we can leave without permission. Don't get yourself and everyone else in trouble."

Annie ignored her and promptly twisted the handle. Krista's eyes widened with a little worry but she said nothing. It was pointless. Annie cracked the door wide enough for her to peak her head out, and saw that the sun was already above the horizon. It was fully visible, if just barely. The light entered the crack and was hitting Mikasa directly.

'_Shit, it's bright. The sun is definitely up. This is no mistake. The watchtower would've noticed it rising over 30 minutes ago.'_

Annie's legs were beginning to shake, and she shut the door back carefully. After doing so, she turned around and noticed Mikasa returning her gaze. A look of disconcert.

'_Were her legs shivering from the cold? Or was it fear? Did she see something else?'_

Annie said at a normal volume, "We should've been called a while ago. Something is going on." She didn't seem to care if anybody else woke up or not from her speaking. Although spoken in an objective manner, it was directed to Mikasa.

Instead of responding, Mikasa directed her attention to the door before getting out of bed and opening the large drawer beneath the mattress.

'_To hell with waiting, I have to go out there myself and see what's going on. I'm the best fit. Maybe Annie will follow suit, but I'm not requesting. She would go off by herself anyway.'_

She carefully removed and replaced every piece of winter training gear onto the bed, including her personal scarf, rather than the standard issue one. Her eyes widened, and she trembled a little while holding it. It reminded her…

'_Eren. If something is amiss, I have to get to him before he gets to me. There's no telling what could be going on. I have to hurry. Anything could happen.'_

Suddenly, she was going much faster, though with no lack of precision. She wasted no time equipping her gear.

'_I have little time for this now.'_

Krista sat up straight on her bed, watching Mikasa quickly put on her gear, getting ready to leave. Instead of protesting like she did with Annie, she kept her mouth shut. She didn't know what exactly to think, but the atmosphere in the room was tense and it put her on edge.

Annie said nothing to either Mikasa or Krista, she just climbed back into her bunk and sat there, looking around as if in thought.

After Mikasa got her entire uniform on, she quickly turned around and walked over to the door intently. Silence be damned, her boots made a loud thud with every step she took. She opened, exited, and shut the door as fast as possible to keep the room warm for the others. She made no effort to be obscure, though she was not overtly noisy either.

She stood on the porch for only a second as she took in the fact that everything was coated in snow. Far more snow than she was prepared for. It hadn't snowed this much in the south all season. It hasn't snowed this much here in years, even.

'_The snow almost comes up to the porch… It must be over 1 feet deep. Damn, this is going to be rough. It's only this bad during intense training exercises up north.'_

Stepping into the snow, she had taken notice of how barren it is. Typically, superiors would be up at this time, either to keep watch or just because they can. But they aren't.

_'Just what the hell is going on? Nothing adds up. If everybody took shelter somewhere warmer due to the snow, certainly they would have notified us.'_

Her pace quickened as her mind was racing, trying to make sense of it. What was so off, she couldn't understand. She felt alone.

The male barracks were not too terribly far away, but the snow made the trip over to them a lot more painstaking. It was absurdly cold outside, far colder than normal. The gear did a dependable job of keeping her warm, but if she spent too long out here it would not be pleasant. She was extremely fit, almost superhumanly so, but enough time spent in the cold will tear anybody down. She had seen it happen.

_'Please be alright, Eren. I'm nervous. Far more than I should be. Anything can happen. Anything. It's scary.'_

Thick clouds were appearing over the horizon, and they were beginning to block out the sun, little by little.

_'Shit. That could be another snowstorm.'_

The torches illuminating the barracks became visible, and she broke into a slight jog. Then a run. Then a sprint. Nearly tripping in the thick snow several times, she was doing all she could not to fall. She had to get there. Fast.

As the porch became perfectly vivid, the sun had become completely concealed by the clouds. It was now dark, and it was going to get colder. The torches were doing a better job of lighting up the area now, and half of them had already fizzled.

She began slowing her pace as she approached the porch, before coming to a complete halt in front of the door. She tried turning the door knob, but it was locked.

_'Of course.'_

Entirely skipping knocking, she kicked the door down and everyone immediately woke up.

In a hopeless effort, Mikasa yelled, "Does anybody know what the hell is happening? And where is Eren?!"

"Wha-" Connie began to say as he was cut off by Reiner, already standing up.

"Mikasa! What is it? Is it urgent?!" Reiner almost yelled, hoping to get some sort of answer.

"You should've all been woken up over 40 minutes ago! There aren't any superiors around, and it's deathly cold outside. The snow has to be nearly 2 feet deep. I don't know what's going on! WHERE is Eren?!"

_'If I don't find him, so help m-'_

Before her train of thought could finish, Jean interrupted, "Eren isn't here! I saw him get up and leave in the middle of the night! Who knows what the suicidal bastard is up to."

She began to panic. "I- in that weather? What? No. No! Why?!" She buried her face in her hands and was clenching them as hard as she could without hurting herself.

"You were just out in that weather too, Mikasa! Whatever Eren is doing, he can handle himself I'm sure!" Marco tried to reassure her, though he knew Eren was not half as well suited as Mikasa could be.

Armin joined in and he claimed "Mikasa, you need to calm down. You're distressed! We can figure this out!" though his words seemingly went in one ear and out the other.

_'Just shut up, everyone. Just shut the fuck up…'_

Her head still in her hands, she was clawing at her scalp through the thickness of her gloves and it provided her an uncomfortable sensation. She hated it.

'_Why do I do this to myself? I resent myself.'_

"Mnnnnnngggh…" she groaned, lengthily.

'_My head hurts. I'm getting another migraine.'_

Everyone watched, some afraid to say anything. Some were shocked. Some showed concern. Only Armin spoke up. "Mikasa, please, you're only hurting yourself…" he said, somewhat resigned, almost in fear of what Mikasa was doing.

For a moment, Mikasa felt herself warming up intensely, and her vision was getting dark and fuzzy. She removed her face from her hands and looked up. Her gaze was distant, unable to focus on anything or anybody. Her knees were locking in place. The nape of her neck felt like it was on fire. She wanted to puke. She… Ached. Mentally and physically.

'_Am I blacking out? What..?'_

In a moment of regained sensibility, she entirely forgot about Eren. She only felt a deep, dull, sadness. But she felt sane, too.

'_I want this episode to end. I am sinking too low. I need to detach myself. That's the best thing I can do. I want to feel warmth again, but I only have one vessel to provide that. Why can I not get out?"_

As soon as it came, it left. Her mind became too clouded again to recognize her despair. Self-Awareness was ever present, and it only furthered her into her depths.

'_I'm stuck without his warmth. It's killing me.'_

She slowly lowered herself to the ground and got on her knees, taking one glance at the room before completely kneeling. Everybody was staring at her like she had lost her mind. She had no idea what to think anymore.

'_I want Eren here…'_

**Drip. Another drip. Drip, drip, drip…**

"Mikasa, you're bleeding!" Armin said as he rushed over to her. He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her up to his eye level on his knees. "Your nose is pouring blood! You're so pale and sweaty! Mikasa, do you even know what I'm saying?!" He was extremely panicked now. "Your breathing is completely erratic…" Her eyes stared straight through him, and her mouth hung ever so slightly agape. The blood from her nose was dropping to her lips, and falling inside her mouth. "Crap!" Armin exclaimed, as he tilted her head forward a little, keeping the blood from pouring in. He grabbed the sheet off of Thomas's bed and did his best to keep the blood in. "She needs to see a medical professional! She isn't well at all!" Armin was basically begging and pleading, tearing up while staring Mikasa straight in her dead eyes. Everything felt like complete dissonance. This was all wrong.

'_My mind feels flooded, and my body withered. Yet I feel so hollow.'_

"Shit, right, okay! I'll take her to the clinic ASAP!" Reiner declared, as he yanked open the drawer under his bed.

Jean suddenly broke out of his shock and he yelled, "I'll go too!"

Armin was the last to advocate for her. "Marco, watch over her as I get my winter gear on, please!" he requested urgently.

"Y-yes!" Marco did as he was told and got down in front of her, keeping the sheet up to her nose with one arm and holding her steady with the other. He noticed how, through her vacant appearance, she almost looked peaceful…

...then her eyes started rolling back. The muscle tension in her tongue was released, and now it was hanging limp. Her breathing was no longer erratic, but slow and deep, with a faint wheeze.

She felt the gentle touch of somebody's hand on her face.

"No, get up." a distant, but familiar voice said.

Then, her consciousness drifted.


	2. Chapter 2: Walking

Annie opened the door to the porch, only to see Krista standing there.

_'Curious.'_

She shut the door and sighed. Krista turned around, looking at Annie with an intent but concerned look.

"Where exactly are you going Krista?" Annie asked, in a relatively quiet tone. "Surely not to go after Mikasa?"

Krista turned back around and replied, with an unsure dedication, "I am."

"That would be foolish, you know that. She can handle herself just fine anyway." She paused for a moment.

Krista didn't respond.

"I'm going to see what's going on at the watchtower. That's a better idea, no?"

Annie walked past Krista, not sharing a second glance. She stepped off the porch into the thick snow.

_'This weather is ungodly. It's never been this bad befo-'_

She walked a good distance before being interrupted. "I'll come with you Annie!" Krista yelled, doing a jog towards her.

Annie halted and turned to face her. "Why?" Annie wasn't surprised, but it still piqued her interest.

"It's dangerous! You're right, Mikasa can handle it, but what if you can't?"

"If I can't handle it, what makes you think that you can?"

"I think if we go togeth-" Annie cut her off.

"Yet you were going to go after Mikasa alone, were you not? You didn't know I'd come through that door."

"I- I was thinking about it." She was becoming increasingly meek.

'_I don't know what her trip is. Is she trying to play the hero? Sacrifice herself for no reason? Trying to find a good reason to die? I know damn well that girl can't handle this. I'm fortunate enough as it is for my tita-'_

Interrupting Annie's train of thought, Krista recollected herself and continued. "Just let me do something to help. Even if I can't handle it… maybe I could do something beneficial despite it."

Annie watched her, making sense of her irrationality. Her face never moved, maintaining her stationary composure.

Krista's face turned a little more serious for a second, before slowly settling into a blank frown. She looked down, waiting for a response.

'_This is unlike her. She is always kind and helpful, but this is pushing it. Unless-'_

"Your facade is cracking." Annie said, staring her dead in the eyes.

Krista's heart nearly stopped. Her eyes were frozen open, and her posture was rigid. As soon as Annie said that, her head flew up and all that could escape her lips was a weak, breathy, "What..?"

'_Well I'll be damned. That reaction says everything.'_

Annie couldn't help but hold back a smirk because of her own intuition. "Truthfully, I suspected it for a while. A genuine treasure such as 'Krista' just doesn't exist in this world. Nobody with the experience you, I, or anyone else in this hellhole have attained would turn out like you. You're fake."

"N-no…" Krista had a tight frown, and was stuck staring at Annie.

'_I don't know who she is, but she isn't offering help entirely out of empathy and kindness. A kind fool in her shoes would've attempted to stop Mikasa as soon as she was preparing to leave. And empathy will only contribute so much to how she acts.'_

"Well? I know who you aren't, but I don't know who you are. My lips are sealed."

Krista didn't respond.

'_If I leave her be, there's no telling what she'll do. Only I have the know-how to keep an eye on her as she is.'_

She let out a long sigh, and the breath was easily visible in the cold. She took a moment to think about what she was about to say.

"You want to be beneficial? Come with me. Just don't lie straight to my face and say it's for my sake. You know damn well what this is about." She paused. "Make yourself useful."

Krista managed to steady herself and collect her thoughts. "And if I can't handle it?"

"Then you will die." Annie said coldly.

Krista made a slight nod and walked up to Annie, stopping just in front of her. They looked each other in the eye, unflinching and dark, as if to test each other's integrity.

"And if you can't?"

"I can."

For a moment longer, they exchanged glares.

Annie slightly turned and gave Krista a side-eye. "We're wasting time." And then she began walking, Krista following shortly after.

'_It's easy to see how she has everybody fooled. Her deceit is only a stretch of what she really is rather than a complete alteration. She is a kind person, sure, but not that kind. Not that stupid either. It's very puzzling. What's her game?'_

Annie pondered it for a while as she remained walking. Krista was following behind, keeping her pace as to maintain a little distance. The path they followed was accompanied by a line of torches on either side, each spacing some 20 feet apart. The watchtower wasn't visible in the distance through the fog and snowfall, so this path was the most reliable method of reaching it. The mutual recognition of their situation kept them both quiet, as did their disregard for chatting. They didn't speak for the longest time.

'_I do wonder what Mikasa is up to. That Ackerman in her and that bond with Eren probably lead her straight to the male barracks in search for him. The door would be locked, but she wouldn't stop there; either by kicking it open or knocking. Either way she had to have woken up the people there. Surely she filled them in on the situation. _

_That makes me wonder though, what the hell would Reiner and Bertolt be doing right now too? In his soldier delusion, Reiner must be doing his best to lead and help out. Bertolt would likely follow suit as best he can. _

_Those 3 better do something productive. I'm not sure who else would exactly be useful in this weather as it is. Krista is definitely struggling, no matter how hard she tries to hide it.'_

They weren't little over halfway there, but Krista was starting to fall behind little by little. The sky was slowly filling with dense, dark clouds. The sun was completely covered, with very little sunlight shining through. Accompanied by the snowfall and fog, it may as well be nighttime. The visibility would be far worse if not for the torches. The winds were picking up, and it was getting noticeably more frigid as well.

Krista slightly misstepped, and the wind made her lose her balance. "Shit!" She fell on her right side, holding herself up with her arms. "Shit…"

Annie turned around and walked a little bit closer to her. "Are you hurt?"

"No…" she averted her gaze.

"Then get up. It's not that much further."

Krista glared at her, but it was more-so out of misdirected anger of her situation rather than Annie's cold response. She was right anyway, it's not much further. And staying down would only make her colder. She had to get moving to warm up.

Slowly, she picked herself up, and got to walking again. She was going slower than she had been before, but Annie slowed her pace too so that now Krista didn't get left behind. In fact, Annie was walking by her side now.

"Annie… you don't even… seem tired…" Krista said, almost out of breath, and shivering. "...or cold."

Annie wasn't entirely sure how to respond. It was true though, she wasn't nearly as tired or cold as she should be. Of course she wasn't in perfect condition, but she wasn't nearly as worse off as Krista was.

"Don't be wasting your breath and energy. I'm not going to carry you give out." Annie said, not once breaking pace or attention to the path. Krista bit her lip and looked ahead, attempting to moderate her progress.

Annie looked up, and noticed torches seemingly floating in the fog. The watchtower. They were getting close enough for it to be visible, though it was still farther than it seemed. Krista noticed it too and smiled out of relief.

'_Whatever is going on up there, we're about to find out.'_


	3. Chapter 3: Condition

The trio of Jean, Armin, and Reiner trekked through the snow at a slow but steady pace. Reiner was doing most of the work, holding Mikasa with a Fireman's carry. Despite weighing a solid 60 more pounds than her, and being one of the strongest cadets, it did become taxing after a little while with the weather as it is.

"Why is Mikasa so heavy? She's heavier than any guy I had to carry in physical training, all except for Bertolt. And he's 6'4!" Reiner said in a half-joking, half-serious way. It was true, she is exceptionally heavy for a girl of her height. "It's no damn wonder she's the strongest person out here. All this weight must be pure muscle. Must be some good genes or somethin…" he added, as if to back up his initial statement.

Armin tried to encourage him. "Hey, the clinic is basically right in front of us. You're doing great as it is!" He wasn't lying, it was quite close. On a regular day it wouldn't take but about 30 seconds to walk to it from where they were currently. However, trodding through the snowstorm, with Mikasa on his shoulders, resulted in Reiner taking slower paces; and it was only natural for it to feel about 4x as long as usual due to how draining it is. So draining in fact, they covered Mikasa from head to toe with a sheet from a cadet's bed, because she was in no shape to face the weather.

"Yea, but goddamnit if the snow isn't doing everything it can to stop us." Jean jested frustratedly. He and Armin were intentionally walking evenly with Reiner so they wouldn't leave him behind, which Reiner was appreciative of. If they had no decency they would've hurried into the clinic as soon as possible to get warmed up.

"Yea, it feels like we got shook in a snowglobe." Reiner said. In the instant he finished saying that, his heart nearly stopped.

"'Shook in a snowglobe'? I haven't heard that one before, heh." Armin said, completely oblivious to what Reiner really just said. Of course Armin and Jean wouldn't know what a snowglobe is. It doesn't exist inside the walls.

Reiner almost came to a stop, but he semi-recollected himself and sputtered out, "Yea, uh, it's a colloquial term I suppose. I don't even know what it means or where it came from."

Conveniently for Reiner, the topic came to a halt as they approached the doors to the clinic. Armin stepped in front and opened the double doors, letting the other two inside. "Hurry, so I can shut the doors!" Armin exclaimed, a little louder than he intended. They hurried inside and Armin slammed the doors against the wind.

Reiner adjusted his holding of Mikasa into a bridal style and laid her onto a bed. "Son of a bitch!" Reiner said, in recoil at suddenly losing 149 pounds. "That feels good."

Armin went into the office to find the doctor, and Jean pulled up a chair next to the bed Mikasa was in. He unwrapped the sheet down to her waist and checked her pulse and breathing.

"How is it?" Reiner asked, in reference to her condition.

Jean was caught off-guard by the obvious question, apparently reminiscing the melancholy nature of this situation with Mikasa. Oh, what he would give to be alone with her like this; him taking care of her and her taking care of him when he needed it. He felt truly happy now, especially with that thought in mind. "Huh- oh." Jean responded quickly, straightening up a little. "Her breathing and pulse is slow and steady. It's not erratic like it was when she was in the barracks." He took a short moment to analyze her again. "She isn't sweating and her skin is more or less back to it's usual tone. No nose bleed either, thankfully. That was worrying…" It was quite obvious that Jean was concerned.

"That's good. You seem to care a lot about her." Reiner said, without joking like most of the other immature cadets would do. In fact, he was quite profound.

Normally Jean would stumble in this situation, but Reiner was being authentic. He felt like there was no point in hiding it from Reiner and trying to make some lame excuse. He wasn't taken aback at all, and instead stayed quiet. Jean's face looked sorrowful, lost in thought…

...truthfully, at first, he only found Mikasa attractive. He took a shot, and made the comment about her long, pretty black hair. Clearly a childish remark that seemingly held little significance at the time. Quite ironically he didn't balk at the fact that she cut her "long" pretty black hair. The entire rendezvous was ultimately a firestarter for him, rather than something monumental in and of itself. His love for her began to run deeper over time, for reasons he didn't entirely understand. He saw how protective Mikasa was of Eren, and he was envious of that. It infuriated him. How could his antithesis, Eren Yeager, get that out of her? He yearned for protection more than most anyone else, that was clear from day one at training. He wished to enter the MPs and live in the comfort of the interior. He was not afraid to elaborate as to why, either. He was open as to how much he coveted that. When he began to see that protective nature in Mikasa, it resonated with him down to his core. As he matured, he didn't question the fact that he genuinely loved her. She was everything he wanted. He knew that. He just didn't know why a suicidal maniac who constantly pushed her and her protection away was the one who was always given love.

He believed his love would go unrequited until the day he died. The real tragedy of it all was that his cherishment for her was simply a projection of his most primal desires. All he wanted was protection and comfort.

Jean was suddenly snapped out of his trance. "Hey, don't care about her too much!" Reiner said jokingly, noticing how solemn he looked.

Jean blinked slowly. "If only it was that easy." He said quietly, speaking out of turn. How could he go against his own nature anyway?

"What was that?" Reiner asked, unable to understand what he was saying under his breath.

Jean looked up and was about to say something, but Armin returned from the office with the doctor.

"Oh! Dr. Hammond! Did Armin tell you everything?" Jean inquired, excited to see if he could shed some light on what's going on with Mikasa.

"I suppose so. Were I in his shoes, I don't believe I'd withhold information." the experienced doctor said, pushing his glasses up his nose bridge. He had a tired face, with a 5 o'clock shadow that seemed to parallel that. His short combed back hair was black and greying, even though he couldn't be any older than 40-something. His eyes matched his hair, being a dull grey. He definitely showed wisdom in his field, and ironically enough a sense of professionalism given his nonchalant approach to appearance and his job. His outfit was quite plain too; just a long sleeve white button up shirt and black slacks, topped off by a pair of brown loafers.

Hammond sighed and rolled up his sleeves. He looked at Mikasa and grinned. "Yep, sure enough that Ackerman would be coming down here. I guess pigs will decide to fly next." he said sarcastically, before sitting down and turning more serious. "It sounds to me like her body was overworked. Though, I find that hard to believe given her physical and mental strength. And hell, I was told that you carried her here Reiner? You seem fine to me. Not to discredit you, but this girl should've been able to do that 2 times over and still be able to run a marathon."

"Did Armin tell you about the weather sir?" Reiner asked, thinking it could be a determining factor in her condition.

"Yes, and I'm taking that into account. Either she's unrealistically cold-natured or it's an insignificant detail. You lot are fine after all, though I imagine it was a bit harsh." As they spoke, Hammond was removing the sheets and the majority of her winter gear so he could perform a check-up.

"A _bit _harsh? The weather out there is monstrous! I don't care who you are, enough time spent out there would tear anyone down. We have no idea how long she was out there either." Jean said, irritated that the doctor was being so dismissive.

Armin backed him up. "Jean is right. We don't know how long she was out there for, she could've been looking for Eren the entire tim-" Armin's eyes widened. He just remembered. "Eren could be out there too! And he definitely can't take it for as long as Mikasa! Jean, you said you saw him get up in the middle of the night and leave? Where could he have gone?" Armin asked, sounding a little desperate.

"Yea, he just got up, got dressed, and walked out. I was half asleep at the time, but I do remember him being in his winter gear with a supply backpack. No idea what he was or is doing, but he seemed prepared. Maybe he's in one of the other buildings. Or dead in a ditch somewhere."

Armin visibly and audibly reacted at that last comment. "Goddamnit, why is Eren always leaving like this?! He doesn't even say a word. He just gets up and leaves! There's no telling what could've happened to him." Armin vented. To call him distressed with everything that's going on would be an understatement.

Reiner tried to offer some solace. "Hey, it's Eren. He's got the most willpower of anybody I know… surely he will be fine. Especially if he was prepared like you say he was Jean. Maybe he was up to something really important?"

Armin knew better though. "No, Eren is a hothead. Even if he seems prepared, he might just be being foolish and naive. Maybe he wasn't, but I don't know. It isn't like him. He could've got into some mess…"

"**Ahem."** The doctor turned the attention of the three away from Eren, who all promptly noticed he had gotten Mikasa undressed down to her long sleeve white button up, pants, and boots. The winter coat, scarf, gloves, and other accessories were on the floor. "If it were the cold, she would have frostbite, which I see none of. In fact, she seems to be in optimal condition now. Even if she were blacking out with a nosebleed, pale skin, sweating, and etcetera, you'd never know it happened. As it stands, she is just unconscious. I can't give a proper analysis of her because, quite frankly, there is nothing wrong with her." He paused as to let that sink in a little for the three cadets. "We will wait for her to wake up and see what she remembers."

The room felt a little more tense, but nobody could put their finger on as to why. At least Mikasa was back to normal, right?


End file.
